Studies of the cholinesterase of sheep brain and concomitant protein.

TL;DRAbstract

Acetylcholine was first synthesized by Baeyer in 1867. At the same time it was only of chemical interest but decades later its powerful pharmacological effects were noted: Hunt and Taveau pointed out the role of acetylcholine in lowering blood-pressure (1). Dale and his co-workers demonstrated that acetylcholine is a chemical mediator of the nerve impulses at parasympathetic endings (2). Thus the notion of chemical mediation that had been introduced by Elliot in respect of adrenalin (3) was extended to the physiology of ganglionic synapses and neuromuscular junctions (4). This hypothesis met with some opposition among neurophysiologists; objections to it were reviewed by Eccles (5). For example stransmission or nerve impulses across the neuromuscular junctions and synapses occurs within milliseconds and chemical mediation by acetylcholine cannot explain this phenomenon. Fulton (6) and Erlanger (7) considered the extremely short interval for the effect of the axon-potential which would

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